


The Joys of Being Late

by WriterOfThought



Series: Bowieverse [4]
Category: David Bowie (Musician)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 15:32:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3139484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterOfThought/pseuds/WriterOfThought
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David Bowie is looking forward to his yearly gathering with his former characters, but the universe is looking to make it as difficult as possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Joys of Being Late

There are many horrible days to have the universe delay your arrival to a destination. Your birthday is definitely one of those days, if the universe will have anything to say about it. A certain Mr. David Bowie learned this the hard way.

First, he woke up late, due to the kind act by his wife and daughter to turn off his alarm when he wasn't looking, figuring he should actually sleep in rather than wake up before the sun. This was no issue to fret over, though. His meeting with his former characters wasn't scheduled until that evening. No, everything was grand. Breakfast in bed accompanied by birthday cards from his family and close friends was well worth the extra sleep.

By the time he woke up, Lexi was already off to school. He slipped on his housecoat and slippers and just stared out the window, admiring the lovely, albeit cold, day ahead.

* * *

The house of characters was in a frenzy. Yes, the guest of honor wasn't expected for another few hours, and they'd done all the important cleaning and baking the day before, but the last minute is always the best time to strive for perfection. All the rooms, even the ones that Bowie would not be entering, were thoroughly swept and vacuumed, the windows were cleaned and the dishes were washed even if they weren't dirty.

Once they were satisfied, the entire house smelled of cleaning products, leaving a definitely citrus aftertaste in the air. Duke and Halloween began gathering the presents into the front room, being careful not to mix up the cards. And, because ten is a number you can do that with, they made a pyramid out of the presents.

The bottom layer was a pentagon of colors both plain and sparkly, with a present in the center for balance. On top of this were three more presents, slightly smaller, but of uniform height. On the third, and final layer was a single present, a sparkly gift bag that got glitter on everything it touched. Since they couldn't make this clever arrangement without ruining the cards, they made a similar pyramid on a small table out of the birthday cards, being sure to keep each one in the same position as its corresponding present.

Now that the rush of cleanliness and preparations was over, all that was left to do was kill two hours worth of time until the guest of honor arrived.

* * *

David had just finished a lovely home-cooked dinner with his family, and opened his presents from them as well. They were all very thoughtful and lovely. But then he looked at the clock on the wall and realized that he'd be late to his evening engagement if he didn't hurry. He gave a goodbye kiss to his wife and daughter and was out the door.

This was when he checked his pockets to learn he forgot his keys. He turned back around and knocked on the door. Iman giggled as she handed him the keys and he was once again on his way. But the universe wasn't done with him quite yet.

Traffic was horrible getting out of the city. For a nearly snowed in Thursday evening, there sure were a lot of cars. The sound of car horns was so rampant that he almost considered writing a song using them as a key instrument.

By the time he was even in the right area as the place where his characters lived, he was well beyond late. Since the invention of city traffic, the universe has had a heyday of havoc.

* * *

“He should have been here by now!” Ziggy complained. “What's taking him so long?” He was moments away from throwing a tantrum that would ruin all the hard work they slaved two days over.

“There has to be some sort of logical reason as to why he's late,” Nathan said, trying to calm Ziggy down. “Perhaps he's stuck in traffic. You know big city driving can be a pain in the ass.”

“There's a crap-ton of snow out there!” Duke replied, “There should be hardly anyone on those roads.”

“That hasn't stopped them before,” Pierot added, watching as Celliers paced the floor militantly.

This was when Tom walked into the room. “Guys, I've just called Iman. She says he left a bit ago, and was probably stuck in traffic. The snow and ice means he'll be driving with caution. Don't worry.” There was a collective sigh of relief from the entire room, except from Ziggy, whose near tantrum was calming down into a pout. 

Not two minutes later, there was a hasty knock on the door. The entire house, excited, rushed to answer it, only to be disappointed to discover it was just Jareth, who had decided to kill the time by making snowmen in the front yard and forgot his keys. This time Ziggy flopped backwards onto the floor, very intentionally, and just lay there, perfectly still, mumbling a rant so quietly and quickly that nobody could decipher it. The rest of the house was just glad he didn't break anything, or himself.

It would be another long fifteen minutes until the doorbell rang, and by then Ziggy had excused himself to the kitchen table to draw angry pictures and immediately crumple and dispose of them. But the tell-tale “Ding-Dong” was sounded, and the whole gang rushed to the door to give David their long-awaited and much-practiced “Happy Birthday” wishes, while not-so-subtly ushering him to the front room. The cake had been pre-cut, the candles left out altogether, and David had insisted that this time there be no singing of the song, since he would have heard it nearly non-stop by the time he arrived.

The purple frosting covered cake was passed around as Celliers explained the fiasco with the food coloring, eliciting a laugh from David. Presents were immediately given, in meticulous order so as not to mix up the cards. With each present came an amusing anecdote, smiles, and hugs from all parties involved. Soon after that was done, each man helped David take the presents to his car, loading them up carefully, as if they were playing Tetris.

The day was coming to a close, and David had to leave. It was sad to see him go, but it was necessary. They each waved goodbye as he drove off into the twilight, wondering how they were going to top this year in the years to follow.


End file.
